Category: Daryn’s Blog

I’ve become that lady. The crazy one. You probably figured this was coming, Dear Reader. Checking in each week to see if I’ve become her yet. Indeed, I have. The crazy lady who misses her dog. Beyond misses. Most days, I ache. It’s been about two months since DarlaDog passed. I still swear I can hear her collar jingling in the other room. Still catch my breath when I see a few scraps from dinner and have to remind myself,

A sweet boy from high school taught me something about love this week. Of course, he is no longer a boy. Now a man. A husband. A father. An incredibly happy one last July as he walked along Promenade des Anglais in Nice, France. Do you remember the evil that happened that night? As the French celebrated Bastille Day, their independence day? A crazed terrorist barreled a truck down that boulevard packed with people. His single mission was to destroy

Welcome to my birthday week. Which I share, not to encourage you to send a gift. Rather the exact opposite. Don’t bother. There’s no need, As I long ago received my best gift ever. All others have always paled in comparison. This one showed up 2 1/2 weeks before my seventh birthday. A gift I knew was on the way. My parents gave my brother and me a heads up months before. Brother followed this breaking news by hauling me

I wrote down my phone number and passed it to a man at a bar this week. Asked him to call me. Please, please call me! My husband is, Well, So incredibly proud. As we have a crisis brewing. With the new laptop I bought. Like moving into a new house, I need to move my old files onto the new one. Which is a problem because my old

The stranger’s knock on my front door exposed me. For the cheater I am. One unexpected visitor’s request making me realize I’ve gone down a path I never intended. How I’d stopped appreciating what I have here at home. My eye started wandering innocently enough. By clicking around a few websites. Checking out other people. How they live. What they have. How much better than mine. My name is Daryn and I’m a house cheater. Yes, I’ve been unfaithful to

My daughter will tell you I’m crazy. She doesn’t understand. At all. Somewhere between two days before Christmas and New Year’s Eve I simply had a revelation. That I messed up. Not my mother-in-law’s chocolate pie. Not my first novel. Though, I certainly did a fine job of making a disaster of both of those. I’m talking big. As in parenthood. Yeah, I messed up parenthood. The awareness has been creeping in our home with each arriving college acceptance letter.

What can I say? I lied to my dog. Each day for almost 17 years I declared, “You are the smartest! The prettiest! The most clever! Best dog ever.” Well, the day she ate the stuffing out of my neighbor’s antique chair, I might’ve had a few other choice words. Still, I bet that day, Any day, really, She heard me. Smartest. Prettiest. Best. Was it a lie? Indeed, it was. Darla would never win Westminster. She never earned a

I never expected to catch my husband doing this. Not this husband. Not during what should be a season of gift giving. Oh, sure. Every wife is shocked. Says her man would be the last to love another girl. I can say it with fortitude. Not my husband. Not this girl. But it has happened. I’ve caught him. It appears, Husband has fallen for my dog. Yes, this husband who swore he never wanted a pet. This husband who couldn’t

It’s not that I’m blaming anyone. After all, the terms were right there in bold print in the Mommy contract. Maybe you signed the same one, Dear Reader? The one where you swear you don’t believe in germs. Not when it comes to taking care of your ailing family. You convince yourself you’re invincible, Have a special super hero protection shield, And do what you have to do in order to take care of everyone else. That’s how I ended

In case you were wondering, Yes, that was me. The lady pushing her buggy down the aisle of the grocery store right before Thanksgiving. Tears streaming down her face. That was me. Tears were not the plan. Yukon Golds for mashed potatoes, Elbow macaroni for mac n’cheese. A few other things I had forgotten. That was the plan. I should remember my tears always have their own plan. Make no allowances for public appearances. And so, they picked the day